The officers said they would not let terrorists dictate terms, and on Thursday 15,000 Palestinians will be allowed to cross into Israel through Erez. ...

In a video made before the bombing, Rayashi declared her lifelong dream of becoming a suicide bomber. "I always wanted to be the first woman to carry out a martyr attack, where parts of my body can fly all over. That is the only wish I can ask God for," she said with a smile.

Well, that is not really what happened. Instead, a terrible, terrible personal tragedy occurred:

A Palestinian mother of two has blown herself up at the main border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, killing at least four Israelis and wounding seven people. The militant groups Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have claimed joint responsibility for the attack. The woman's identity and motives were made known in a videotape she left behind. The Hamas militant blew herself up at a checkpoint where Palestinian labourers from the Gaza Strip were being put through Israeli security before entering a nearby industrial complex. Several Palestinians were also among the wounded.

The poor mother! Good to know, she had "motives". And, of course, she's a "woman", a "mother of two", a "militant", and not a "suicide bomber" or a "terrorist". Quite a legacy she left her children...

Thank you so much, Deutsche Welle, for your compassionate reporting...

BTW: "Deutsche Welle made a substantial contribution to education, to political information, to broadening the cultural horizon. Deutsche Welle's offer of objective information is called for above all where cross-border and civil wars prevail - whether in the Balkans, in Afghanistan or the Middle East."
(German President Johannes Rau)

Update: Here's a picture of a victim of "mother's" actions. And here's "the woman" before and after the attack. Actually, Golda Meir said it all: "We will have peace with the Arabs when they will love their children more than they hate us."

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein has given his U.S. captors information on hidden weapons and as much as $40 billion he may have seized while he was Iraq's president, an Iraqi official was quoted as saying on Monday.

"Saddam has confessed the names of people he told to keep the money and he gave names of those who have information on equipment and weapons warehouses," Iyad Allawi, a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat daily.

"The Governing Council is searching for $40 billion worth of funds seized by Saddam when he was in power and which has been deposited in Switzerland, Japan, Germany and other countries under the names of fictitious companies," Allawi said. (emphasis added)

Occasionally Anti-Americanism is exported to the world by - US news organizations.

Take Reuters. Reporting on the rocket attack this Sunday on the Baghdad hotel where US Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz stayed, Reuters observes:

IRAQIS REGRET WOLFOWITZ SURVIVED

Angry at U.S. occupation, Iraqis expressed regret at what they saw as an assassination attempt had failed.

"I wish Wolfowitz had been killed. I wish all Americans here would be killed," said Ali Hussein, a grocer in central Baghdad. "The Americans are not human beings, they are monsters. They lied to the Iraqi people."

That's it. One Iraqi - one!! - displays anger at the Americans, and in Reuters mathematics this is "Iraqis".

And I thought, only the German media play these anti-American games...

Update 1: Site visitors tell me, Reuters is a British, not a US company. Well, let's call them "International News Organization" - and anti-American they are.

Update 2: The Reuters release regarding the Baghdad blast has been changed in the last hour. The headline "IRAQIS REGRET WOLFOWITZ SURVIVED" is gone, substituted by ""NOTHING PERSONAL". The part "Angry at ... Iraqi people" is still there.

Germany's clear opposition to Washington's plans for war in Iraq served as a poignant example of this growing confidence. It showed a tenor that, at least in its openness, wouldn't have been imaginable earlier. That's also a byproduct of reunification, a process that has increased the international community's expectations of Germany just as much as it has changed its domestic social structure.

The more these demands increase, so must Germany's reliability and consistency, especially when it comes to issues like Berlin's role in the European Union or maintaining the German-French friendship. The importance of these tasks haven't decreased. They remain of equal importance as the integration of Germany.

The one thing the relationships have in common is this: There is no fixed terminus -- it's a process that will be a lasting challenge."

Reuters - Palestinian militants killed a settler and a two-month-old baby girl in an attack on a Jewish settlement in the West Bank on Friday as Israelis celebrated the Jewish New Year.

AFP: An Israeli man and a baby girl were shot dead and two others wounded when a Palestinian gunman infiltrated a Jewish settlement in the southern West Bank shortly after the start of the Jewish New Year, Israeli sources said.

AP: A Palestinian attacked a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and killed two people — including an infant — before he was killed Friday night, emergency workers said. The attack came as Israelis began celebrating the Jewish New Year.

Eine Reuters-Meldung enthüllt übrigens, daß Blair auf der Pressekonferenz auf die Attacken der Journalisten durchaus geantwortet hatte: " 'I hope we can set aside the speculation and the claims and the counter-claims,' Blair told reporters in Tokyo when one questioner asked him if Kelly's death was on his conscience."